Budget cuts have forced Palm Beach County to remove the lifeguards from several popular beaches.

The lifeguards are no longer stationed in Ocean K park, just north of Juno Beach. The Jupiter Inlet remains mostly unguarded, as well. Including beaches in the town of Jupiter, that makes about 4 miles of consecutive, unguarded beach.

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"We've had an unusual amount of rip currents," said Dave Lill, the director of the Aquatics Division with the Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department. "Our rescue statistics are higher, prevention and assists are higher."

Lill said that's a major reason why they had no choice but to leave portions of the beach unguarded. He said it would be worse to try to stretch the staff thin and cover everywhere.

"If you have one tower and two guards at a beach where you really need two towers and three guards, you're asking for problems," he said.

Signs all over the county beaches show people which beaches are guarded and which are not. Lill said those signs will stay there as long as the beaches remain unguarded, which will be for at least the foreseeable future.

"We'd love to see the county get to the point where we could restaff that but at this point in time, we just can't do it."